Since all these rules and superstitions are outdated, what's wrong with me indulging in some me

Cheng Caijun watched with trepidation from outside the cave entrance, and whispered:

"Brother Lu? What happened?"

Lu Changsheng turned around and made a shushing gesture, then turned to Chen the Blind.

He crouched down, trying to make his voice sound as calm as possible.

"I'll ask you a few questions, you answer me, and I'll answer you, okay?"

Lu Changsheng looked at his crazy face, but knew clearly that he was not without reason.

Blind Chen's hand was still gripping Lu Changsheng's wrist, his withered knuckles as tight as iron hoops. But he didn't answer immediately; instead, he stared at Lu Changsheng with his blind eyes, his grayish-white pupils moving slightly in their sunken sockets.

It's like they're weighing their options.

It was as if they were confirming something.

"You...you're willing to answer me?" His voice was hoarse, tinged with disbelief. "You really want to tell me?"

"Of course." Lu Changsheng's voice was calm. "You answer my question, I answer your question, it's fair."

Blind Chen grinned, revealing an expression that was hard to tell whether it was a smile or a cry. The smile looked particularly eerie on his withered face; the corner of his mouth twitched halfway before freezing, turning into a twisted arc.

"Okay...okay..." he murmured, finally loosening his grip on Lu Changsheng's hand slightly, but not completely letting go, as if afraid he would run away. "Ask...ask..."

"Alright," Lu Changsheng nodded, "Why are you locked up here?"

Blind Chen's lips trembled slightly.

"Because..." His voice was hoarse, with a resigned calm, "it's no use."

Lu Changsheng's brows twitched slightly.

"It's useless now?"

"I've finished looking... I've finished talking..." Chen the Blind murmured, "Everyone who comes... they all want me to look... they all want me to talk..."

His hands unconsciously gripped the straw mat beneath him, his withered fingers digging into the grass stems.

But his words made Lu Changsheng's back tense instantly.

"Tell them... what kind of people... are the outsiders..."

"Tell them whether this person is bold or timid, quick-tempered or slow-tempered, what they believe in, what they fear, what they want, and what they can't bear to part with..."

"Tell them what hardships this person suffered as a child, what scars they have as an adult..."

Every word was like a needle, piercing into Lu Changsheng's mind.

The villagers stared intently at him.

Those seemingly unintentional conversations.

"Why would they need to know this?"

Lu Changsheng's expression turned ugly.

"How would I know what they're doing? I'm just a fortune teller," Blind Chen laughed, revealing yellow teeth. "They're just doing what they're supposed to do..."

"it is good."

Lu Changsheng nodded.

"Who told you to do that? The village chief?"

Blind Chen was stunned for a moment.

Then, his smile widened. The smile looked particularly eerie on his withered face, revealing yellowed teeth and severely receding gums, exposing dark red gums.

"Village chief?" he repeated the word, his voice hoarse like sandpaper scraping against stone. "Without the village chief, I probably wouldn't be alive today..."

Lu Changsheng's brows twitched slightly.

"What do you mean by that?"

Blind Chen gripped Lu Changsheng's wrist tightly again, his withered knuckles as firm as iron clamps. He brought his face close, so close that Lu Changsheng could smell the complex odor emanating from him—a mixture of herbs, mold, and blood.

"Don't you understand? With the village chief dead, you, me, him—" Blind Chen suddenly turned to look at Cheng Caijun at the cave entrance, "all of us normal people are finished!"

Lu Changsheng stared at Chen the Blind's withered and distorted face, trying to find the true meaning behind those words beneath the madness. But Chen the Blind didn't give him time to think.

"You've finished asking." Blind Chen's voice suddenly became calm, so calm it didn't sound like a madman's. "My turn."

His hand was still gripping Lu Changsheng's wrist, his withered knuckles tightening little by little, as if he wanted to embed his problem into Lu Changsheng's bones.

"You should have died six years ago."

His voice was slow and heavy, each word sounding as if it were being dug out from the depths of his chest.

He paused, his gray eyes fixed on Lu Changsheng, his pupils trembling slightly in their sunken sockets.

"But you're standing here now. Hot. Alive."

"so--"

His voice suddenly rose, sharp and piercing, carrying a kind of frenzied obsession:

"Who extended your life? Who?!"

Lu Changsheng looked at him.

Looking at that face contorted with excitement, at those eyes that could see nothing yet desperately tried to "see" the answer, at the force emanating from those withered fingers that almost crushed his wrist bones.

He did not struggle, nor did he pull his hand away.

He just squatted there quietly, his face expressionless, as if Blind Chen's question wasn't about his own life or death, but a trivial matter.

Then he spoke.

"Nobody."

Blind Chen's hand froze.

"What?"

"No one." Lu Changsheng's voice was calm, as calm as if he were stating the weather. "I didn't die six years ago because—"

He paused.

Blind Chen held his breath, remaining completely still like a statue.

"It's because I saved myself."

This statement is like a pebble thrown into a deep pool; it doesn't create ripples, but rather a deathly silence.

Blind Chen's lips trembled violently, and an extremely complex expression appeared on his withered face—confusion, fear, doubt, and a deeper, almost frenzied excitement.

"What...what did you say?"

"I mean," Lu Changsheng said, emphasizing each word, "six years ago, I saved myself, extended my own life."

The air seemed to freeze.

Blind Chen's hand slipped from Lu Changsheng's wrist and fell onto the straw mat. His body began to tremble, starting from his fingertips, spreading to his arms, shoulders, and his entire hunched back.

"What does that mean...what does that mean..."

Lu Changsheng did not answer.

He simply looked at Blind Chen's face, which was completely in a state of chaos, and slowly stood up.

"You've finished asking. I've answered."

He turned around and squeezed out of the hole.

Lu Changsheng did not turn around.

When Cheng Caijun saw Lu Changsheng come out, he visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

Blind Chen remained motionless.

He didn't even shout, didn't press further, and made no sound.

It was as if that sentence had completely drained all my strength.

It's as if, in that darkness, it's processing something alone.

Lu Changsheng bent down and put the bluestone slab back on.

"Bang."

The stone slab fell back to its original position with a dull thud.

The two did not dare to linger; having gathered the useful information, they quickly left.

But Mark and Kevin are now facing a life-or-death situation.